#sabbaticalessay

The day after I finished Trek America, I flew back to LA

Bye bye Anchorage!

It was such a great adventure- I am so glad I decided to do it.  (I am just sorry it took me so long to post about it)

On this day, we hiked into ice sheets of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.  Here is a picture of me with someone else’s hat and my necklace from Peru. 

We had to put on crampons to move onto the ice.

It was kind of scary how they explained that we have to be careful not to fall into a crevice because no one is going to help you out of it.

Then we each had chance to climb an ice wall.

It was super scary but I am not a kind of person who passes on this kind of experience.  I’ve climbed indoor walls before but that was my first time on ice.  On this evening we went into what you might call “town” in McCarthy.

We went into a bar where it was full of towns’ people drinking and dancing into the night (with their small children and dogs all running around in the bar together)

It was July and sun never set. 

Here’s a cute selfie of me and Ursy. 

Man how I wish I could go back to Alaska.  I felt kind of sad about posting my trip from 2018 but I just came back from a trip to France in April and am glad I am finally making some new travel memories. 

We scheduled two full days in Cusco before starting our trekking to Machu Picchu for purpose of acclimatizing.  Looking back, I am glad we did that.  There are many people who skip this process and go through hell and some people can’t even handle the altitude in Cusco.  We’ve actually saw a girl on the ground all pale and sick in the city.    

I’ve been very lazy and it has been over a year since I was in Cusco and I’ve almost forgot how the weather felt (probably because it is just too hot where I am right now) but looking back at the pictures I am wearing padded vest underneath my water proof jacket.  Yes! I remember the first thought that went through my mind as we walked for dinner on the first night.  It was so cold!!! And I did not have enough warm clothes!!!! I just underestimated everything because it was June.  Yes... it is super cold in June in Peru.  

We had a wonderful day in Cusco where we did all the touristy stuff. We visited Plaza de Armas (which was very walkable from our hotel).  We visited the Cusco Cathederal.  We tool pictures with a baby llama and ladies dressed in Peruvian clothes.  We went to McDonalds :) (ha ha).  We went shopping to get supplies for our trekking (snacks, water proof panchos, battery chargers with sun panel...and so on)

We also had wonderful Peruvian dinner.  Then there were fireworks (not sure what the occasion was).  The plaza was full of people and it was super festive and fun!!!  Thinking about that night makes me feel so nostalgic right now.  

One downside of our stay in Cusco was how COLD our room was.  It was just so so so cold and only thing that remotely gave out heat was a small radiator which wasn’t enough.  Also our shower wasn’t really warm either.  So it was just really cold.  We stayed at Tierra Viva Cusco Saphi.  I mean it was reasonably priced and was pretty close to all the touristy places but our room was just so damn cold.  We stayed at the same hotel when we came back after our trekking and that time we got a fancier room which was so much warmer.  So I guess it depends on which room you get.  

Day five was all about traveling - “literally” to Cusco, Peru.

We took late night flight from LAX to Lima which stopped briefly at Mexico City.  Mexico City International Airport! I might have been there before.  My family once took a trip from Denver to ...hmmm “somewhere” in Mexico.  I should ask my parents where that was.  I was young and international travel to Central American did not interest me back then.  I just remember recognizing the fruit “lime” for the first time during that vacation.   

No wifi but Starbucks!

I was so tired because it was late night flight from LA to Mexico City which took like.. 4-5 hours and we had to wait in the airport at super early hours for our next flight to Lima.  

Then when we got to Lima, there was something about having to register and pay deposit for my friend’s drone.   We did everything once again where we find our luggages and shipping them again and all that stuff.  After a while we were once again on another flight to Cusco.  

We arrived after sundown to Cusco and I was surprised to find the weather COLD.  I was not expecting this in June but it was cold.  (I was in shorts)  Our arranged driver picked us up (we had our travel agency arrange all the pick ups and drop offs with a car in Peru and it was so convenient).  We drove into Cusco and there finally I had my first glimpses of Peru - actually my first glimpses of South America- eve - through the car window.  

We stayed at  Tierra Viva Cusco Saphi Hotel (before AND after our trekking).  It was lovely except the cold.. it was really cold.  Even the water was sort of lukewarm.  

We walked out towards the city center and had our very first Peruvian dinner at this place called Morena Peruvian Kitchen which became our favorite Peruvian restaurant ever!